Lattice Heath Moth

[Tormentil]

This may seem a dum question but, Semiothisa clathrata & Chiasmia clathrata, are they the same moth ?

[Dogghound]

Yes there the same species

[Tormentil]

Any idea why there's two classifications ?

[CapAndBracket]

Both names seem to be attributed to Linnaeus, 1758, so there seems to be
some indicision as to which genus they belong to.

Cheers J.P.

[Dogghound]

Maybe an update or change of taxonomic group. Im not 100% sure to be honest.

[Tormentil]

Thanks Dogghound & Cap&Bracket.

I guess it's ok to use either then. Very confusing.

[poschiavanus]

All in all, this is a most intriguing issue with scientific names. I thought a quick search would readily answer the question, but that was not the case!

If you go back 50-60 years many moth and butterfly names were different. Mainly, as is the case with the Lattice Heath, because of changes in the assignment of genus to the species. What's more the names of the families have changed as well. Making sense of old site lists, or papers from the period can take ages. Oddly if one goes further back, the name used might be more recognisable.

In this case the change seems to be taking place now. Fauna Europea does not have an entry for the genus Semiothsia, but does have an entry for Chiasmia.

On this site I found information on these two genera: both were named by Hübner, the first in 1818 and the second in 1823. The first naming has priority. I imagine it was overlooked at some point, Chiasmia was then widely used, and now is being supplanted by the older name.

Alternatively the two names may have recently been synonymised. Unfortunately the information provided on checklists does not enable one to tell which case applies.

Broadly it seems that Chiasmia is used in Europe, excluding the British Isles, and Semiothisa in the British Isles and North America.

I notice, however, that the websites of the Moths of Suffolk, Norfolk and the Essex Field Club all prefer Chiasmia. Perhaps East Anglia is preparing for a lepidopteran UDI.

Latticed Heath has remained a constant for a century or two. But failing that you can always use its Bradley and Fletcher number 1894.

poschiavanus

[Tormentil]

Thanks for the definitive answer poschiavanus. So Semiothisa it is, as we're in the British Isles.

[haematocephalus]

Originally Posted by Tormentil

Thanks for the definitive answer poschiavanus. So Semiothisa it is, as we're in the British Isles.

Or possibly not - it's Chiasmia in the recent Waring and Townsend field guide to British moths, and it's Chiasmia in the MapMate species database

Martin


Martin Harvey

[CapAndBracket]

He's right, had a similar problem last year doing a project on populations of the Adonis blue, two latin names, the name should be whoever first described
a given species, if an earlier description is found then that takes precedence,
but this may be different people in britain/europe, then there can be a
question as to whether they were describing the same species, as number of
species in the family the adonis is from is itself disputed.

Cheers J.P.